While the reliability and validity of self-reported traits is a concern, particularly for phenome research conducted online,54,55 Web-based assessments provide distinct opportunities for “dynamic phenotyping” based on a P505-15 particular individual’s prior genotype-phenotype associations.56 The multimodal capabilities

of Web-based trait collection instruments, combined with their low cost of implementation at large scales, seem likely to accelerate the ability of studies like the PGP to effectively explore new corners of the human phenome. The PGP is also taking Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical advantage of recent advancements in health information technologies to assist participants and researchers alike in structuring and accessing the massive amounts of personalized data generated by the project. The emergence of online Personally Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Controlled Health Record (PCHR) platforms and other novel tools enables individuals to collect and manage their own health data – including health history, medication, allergy, immunization, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical biometric and other data types57,58,59 – and can be developed

for integrated data entry, access and dissemination by both the individual and third-party researchers or data providers, including health care providers. Enviromes The picture of genome and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical phenome is incomplete without the envirome. The envirome can be described as the totality of equivalent environmental influences contributing to all disorders and organisms.60 The mode of response of an organism to the environment that is reflected in its phenotype is constrained by its unique set of genetic variations and the environmental influences on gene expression. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Therefore, a

comprehensive approach is required to describe the envirome systematically in conjunction with genome and phenome information. The relevant envirome data is too large and complex to be reported, managed, or analyzed manually. The creation of phenome-genome and genome-envirome networks has been suggested in order to relate Tryptophan synthase phenome and envirome information to potential disease-associated genes.61 Microbiomes Even though microbial cells are estimated to outnumber human cells in a single individual by a factor of ten, we know very little about the microbes that live in and on us, including what mixture of bacteria, viruses, and other micro-organisms constitute a “normal” human microbiome and how those organisms impact different biological states.62 Major efforts such as the Human Microbiome Project are under way to characterize the microbiota at different body sites in humans and to assess how variation in microbial communities is associated with states of health and disease.